Africa Top10 News

1South
Africa’s Blended Cabinet

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a new
cabinet in which, for the first time in the country’s history, half of all
ministers are women. In another unexpected move, one of the women is from the
opposition. He appointed veteran opposition politician Patricia de Lille, who
had stood for the Good Party, as minister of infrastructure development. South
Africans have welcomed the move to have equal gender representation. Tanya
Cohen from Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said it sent “good signals to
have qualified ministers like Dr Naledi Pandor as International Relations
minister”. Mr Ramaphosa reduced the amount of ministers in what he called
a “bloated” cabinet from 36 to 28 ministers. However, the opposition
Economic Freedom Fighters party said in a statement that the idea that he had
reduced the size of the cabinet was “the first sign of absolute
dishonesty” because, at the same time, he had increased the number of
deputy ministers. Mr Ramaphosa has pledged to root out corruption, but correspondents
say eyebrows have been raised that he retained Deputy President David Mabuza.
Mr Mabuza, a close ally of former President Jacob Zuma, denies allegations of
involvement in political killings and illegal tenders.

2Kenya’s
Coping Mechanism for the Drought

The country is facing one of the worst stretches of
drought in years, causing underdevelopment, fights over water, and fears of
starvation. However, a village in western Kenya is using a high-tech solution
to water scarcity with so-called “digital wells” in a bid to improve
local livelihoods and prevent waste. World Vision Kenya and the Nakuru County
government funded the wells, giving residents access to clean drinking water,
but also using a high-tech solution to prevent waste. Villagers use cards
fitted with microchips and pre-loaded with money to dispense and pay for the
water, helping to fund the costs of drilling wells. The project has brought
much-needed water closer to home and extra income for locals. For the villagers
of Solai, the access to clean, safe drinking water has literally taken a load
off their backs.

3Old
African Techniques are En Vogue

When European explorers discovered the Yoruba
kingdoms in West Africa in the fifteenth century, they found a civilization
already established over 500 years earlier. The culture spread across the
world, partly as a result of the slave trade, with its vibrant artistic
traditions, albeit fading, still felt as far as Cuba, Haiti and Brazil. Now,
designers are reinventing ancient Yoruba crafts for their modern creations.
Nigerian fashion brand Ethnik are using Aso Oke, a traditional Yoruba weaving
technique, for the contemporary designs. Packed with vivid, blue, yellow and
red patterns, Ethnik’s sneakers, bags and smartphone cases are a way for their
customers to connect with their heritage through fashion. The apparel and
footwear market in sub-Saharan Africa is on the rise, with a number of small
companies competing for a share of the market. Valued at an estimated $31
billion in 2015, the market is expected to keep growing, according to research
by Euromonitor.

4The
Racial Undertones of Science

There has been justified outrage about a recently
published—and hastily retracted—academic article written by academics from
Stellenbosch University in South Africa. The article suggested that “coloured”
women in South Africa “present with low cognitive function and which is
significantly influenced by education”. Coloured is a racial classification
legalized during apartheid for people of “mixed race”. This allegedly low
cognition was also linked to unhealthy lifestyle behaviors. There’s a myriad of
articles all pointing to one particularly important concept that’s been given a
lot of attention in the debates – the notion of “race science”, which is also
called scientific racism. The article and the opprobrium that followed are a
reminder that race and racism are still deeply embedded in science, and must be
exorcised. Race science concerns the use of science as a vehicle to advance
racist agendas, or where race is used as a variable in science for the purpose
of labeling certain groups of people negatively or defining them in deficit
terms.

5The
Fledgling Libyan Women’s Football Team

#TimesUp is a superbly made, stirring documentary
that introduces us to what you might call Fadwa’s 11. In the film’s desperate
final act, as the near-disbanded team fight to attend a showcase international
tournament in Lebanon, it even starts to feel like one-last-job territory. The
women’s courage and perseverance, as well as their enormous potential symbolic
impact for Arab society, shows up Hollywood hashtag feminism for what it is.
Filming over four years following the 2011 revolution, half-British,
half-Libyan director Nahiza Arebi focuses on amiable player of the year Fadwa,
ice-cream-loving goalkeeper Halima, and the lean and determined Naama, a
refugee in Tripoli from Tawergha, 200km to the east. Horribly, the spirit of
fear, control and national self-sabotage that dominates the country leaves them
less leeway for their passion than the women of sharia Iran and Saudi Arabia.

6Equatorial
Guinea’s Dilemma

Even the purpose-built town built in 2011 at a cost
of €600m to host a week-long AU summit and showcase the rise of the tiny
oil-rich state has failed to attract visitors. For almost a decade, Sipopo has
been the crown jewel in a strategy to lure high-end visitors to Equatorial
Guinea to diversify an economy badly hit by a slump in oil revenue. A 16km
drive from Equatorial Guinea’s capital, Malabo, the resort boasts a vast
conference centre, the Sofitel Malabo Sipopo Le Golf hotel and 52 luxury villas
— one for every head of state to attend the summit — each with its own swimming
pool. There is also an 18-hole golf course, several restaurants and exclusive
beaches guarded by police. A 1.5km beach — an artificial shore secluded from
curious eyes — was virtually deserted, in contrast to a public beach near the
capital. The three-lane highway leading from Malabo to Sipopo was mostly empty
of traffic. A hospital was added after the villas were built, but is unused. A
few travel firms offer trips tailor-made for both luxury and adventure, but
they also allude to the difficulties, notably of being allowed to enter the
country.

7Africa’s
Biggest Wealth Fund Takes A New Direction

Senior executives from the Public Investment
Corp.’s three biggest labor union contributors are set to be appointed to the
interim board of the fund manager that’s being investigated over allegations of
wrongdoing. Ivan Fredericks, the general manager of the Public Servants
Association, and Mugwena Maluleke, the general secretary of the South African
Democratic Teachers Union, could be appointed to the $135 billion fund manager
as early as this week. The PIC’s current board offered to resign in February as
testimony at a judicial inquiry brought to light a string of questionable
investment decisions. The fund manager is on its third chief executive officer
in six months and senior executives have been suspended. In a break with tradition,
the new board, which will serve until the commission releases its findings. The
PSA has 240,000 members, making it the biggest contributor by members to funds
that ultimately flow to the PIC. Sadtu has about 230,000 members and Nehawu
about 194,000.

8Banks
Closed on Account of Strikes

Banks in the Sudanese capital Khartoum came to a
virtual standstill on Wednesday as protest and opposition groups organised a
second day of strikes to pressure military rulers to cede power to civilians.
Several banks visited by a Reuters reporter were fully closed, and cash
machines had not been restocked for several days. Employees at the central bank
were also on strike. Participation in the strike has been partial, with buses
and most air transport still operating. Shops including clothes and shoe retailers
where people buy gifts ahead of Eid al-Fitr, the holiday ending the holy month
of Ramadan next week, were open. But the strike has been widespread in the
financial sector, already struggling from an economic crisis that led to
shortages of fuel and cash and helped trigger 16 weeks of mass protests against
Bashir’s rule.

9Nigerians
are Waiting for Buhari to Say Something

President Muhammadu Buhari surprised many when he
did not deliver a speech at his inauguration on Wednesday. The 76-year-old
former military leader faces a long list of challenges, including combating a
sluggish economy, high unemployment and a decade-old Islamic insurgency. Some
social media users were critical of the absence of a speech. Software developer
Tosin Olugbenga called it was a “missed opportunity”. “It is an opportunity for
the president to speak to Nigerians and give further assurance of his commitment
to a better Nigeria,” he said in a tweet.

10The
World’s First Gin to Feature Elephant Poo

Indlovu gin is the world’s first gin to feature
“elephant-foraged botanicals.” Golden in color, and distinctly earthy on the
palate, it’s smooth enough to drink neat at 11 am, but it also likes to mingle
with tonic, Cointreau and even coffee beans. A pair of scientists washed the
dung in water, put it through a cleansing process akin to the one used to make
borehole water drinkable and air-dried it. The result: a fluffy, strawlike
substance.For centuries, elephant dung has been used by Africans to assuage
labor pains, cure sinusitis and even quench thirst (as a last resort). Indlovu,
means elephant in many south african languages, is not the only alcohol to use
poop as its base, but it might be the only one that gives animals the freedom
to ad-lib their own recipes. Every bottle is marked with geogrpahic coordinates
denoting where the dung was foraged.